A HIDDEN stash of 266.45 kilograms of restricted sea cucumbers, tucked away in a separate warehouse room during Fiji’s closed season, has cost a 55-year-old man $10,000 after the High Court rejected his claim that the haul was for “personal consumption”.
Xiao Yuan Hou was convicted and fined by Justice Daniel Goundar in the High Court in Suva yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of failure to comply with seasonal and species restrictions under Regulation 4(1) of the Offshore Fisheries Management Regulations 2014.
The court heard that Fisheries Enforcement officers were conducting compliance checks at sea cucumber processing facilities across the Suva–Nausori area on June 9, 2026, during the official closed season.
At about 11.45am, officers inspected the warehouse of Huayi Bros Company (Fiji) Pte Ltd.
In the main storage room, they found more than 20 sacks of legally held bêche-de-mer.
However, a second storage room revealed 11 sacks concealed in a corner, containing 266.45kilograms of restricted White Teatfish, Black Teatfish and Prickly Redfish.
The restricted species had been kept separate from the lawful stock while the closed season was in force.
During a caution interview, Hou admitted he knew the species were restricted but claimed he had bought them from local fishermen for $3000 for personal consumption.
Justice Goundar rejected that explanation, highlighting the substantial quantity involved, the deliberate concealment of the restricted species from the lawful stock and the timing of the offence during the closed season.
The judge identified these as aggravating factors, emphasising that such conduct directly undermined Fiji’s fisheries conservation regime.
The court recorded a conviction and imposed the maximum statutory fine of $10,000.
Hou was, however, granted permission to pay the fine in five monthly instalments of $2000 through February 2027. In allowing the instalment arrangement, the court considered his early guilty plea, age, and clean record.
The 266.45kilograms of seized restricted sea cucumbers were ordered to be destroyed.
The case highlights the enforcement of seasonal and species restrictions designed to protect Fiji’s marine resources and prevent the harvesting and possession of protected sea cucumber species during the closed season.
